Obsessions, by Joseph Mills

reviewed by Stephen Blake

Joseph Mills is a Glaswegian librarian who already has a well-received novel, Towards the End, and numerous short stories to his name. He is the editor of the recent short-story collection Borderline: The Mainstream Book of Scottish Gay Writing (2001), and is currently working on an English counterpart.

Here, Mills presents us with a collection of his own stories – all with a Glasgow backdrop – of gay men. The stories are complex and well crafted and present the reader with some very powerful and vivid images.

“Long To Go”, about a young man who is looking after his dying partner suffering from AIDS and who is already nurturing a new lover, is particularly poignant.